Climate
change could make coffee extinct by 2080
By
Laurie Balbo via Green Prophet, Global Warming is Real
According
to a new report issued by the Climate Institute, global warming will underpin
an estimated 50 percent drop in coffee production by 2050.
Bad
news for coffee lovers, but catastrophic for the 120 million people in dozens
of mostly developing nations who depend on the coffee trade to make ends meet.
The
report predicts that worldwide coffee production will drop by half over the
next three decades due to climbing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns,
rendering regions historically suited for coffee cultivation unable to meet
global demand.
Production may be forced to move away from low-level equatorial regions and higher up into forested mountains causing new negative ecological impacts.
Significantly
altered micro-climates will affect both coffee quality and yield sizes.
“It’s
not just the heat, which is a big factor which is driving some of the regions
where coffee is produced uphill,” John Connor, Climate Institute’s chief
executive officer, told ABC. “We’re also seeing extra diseases increasing and
being able to go up into those areas.”
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